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Senior Member

Hey guys. Not sure if this is the right forum to post in, but here's my problem.

I want my computer to be a used predominantly for photography and internet browsing. I've just uninstalled all my games because I don't want to be too tempted to waste hours upon hours of time on video gaming while I can be studying / doing productive work with photography as my Os draw near.

My computer is becoming extremely slow / sluggish. Everything seems to be slowing down to a crawl really. I reformatted at the end of the year, and it was alright for 2 months, then it became laggy again.

I haven't been tech-whizzy for a good 2 years already. I setup the above and back then it was a 'notch below the best'. Obviously new-gen tech has evolved further now, but my computer is by no means dated to me (other than DDR1 ram).

Last time, whenever I opened a folder on a desktop for example, it would be instantaneous. Now, I have to wait 1-2 seconds. Nothing bad here, except that when more apps are running, opening folders can take long periods of time. Back when I got the computer, CS Source ran at about 125fps, but now, it runs on 40 - 60fps only. Obviously the game itself was updated along the way, but I can't explain the 60fps drop, especially since I've been using the same in-game settings all the way.

My work in Photoshop CS1 isn't speedy. It used to be, but now it's just slow. Last time, the liquefy tool took at best 1 sec to load a standard 1024x768 image. Now, I think it takes about 3-4 seconds. I downloaded the Lightroom2 trial, and I'm loving it. But I hate how everything is extremely slow. I want to purchase LR2, but my only concern is how my PC will handle it properly.

I could go on and on about examples of slow-speeds, but I'll stop. Is there any way at all that I can speed things up? I defrag weekly (and after every major install/uninstall/data moving), Crap-Clean every night and perform "disc-cleanup" every week. I've got TuneXP installed too.

Upgrading my computer isn't what I feel like doing unless needed. I for-see with my limited knowledge of current-tech that if I want to up the ram, I'd need to replace the mobo and processor. That'll cost a lot, and I just can't afford that, especially since I'm trying to invest most of my savings into photography gear.

New Member

The slowness is most probably due to the large storage that you have. As you store more files into your hard disk, the longer it takes to access the files. Make sure you have enough free space left in your C: drive as it needs this additional space to act as virtual memory.

Other than that, I don't think there's anything else you can do except to buy a new PC

Moderator

Without having a direct look at your PC nobody can give a good recommendation. There are too many factors that can and will slow down Windows - and Windows is well-known for being slowed down even by small things. Uninstalling your games doesn't help much since it will leave enough rubbish on the disks that is not properly removed and still slows down the machine. There are so many settings that need to be checked as well:
- Hardware config (remove OC, doesn't help much)
- Swap file, Auto start
- Network settings
- Windows settings (animations, shares and all this nonsense)
You have more than one hard disk, you could easily format C drive and backup data to the other disks. As long as you have the right Windows Install CD you can use ANY install CD. But you need your Windows Key (usually a sticker on the PC) for installation. But you'll also need to backup all the user settings in "Documents and Settings".
Also, get more RAM. 1GB is a bit short today. Check the empty slots on the board and get at least another 1 GB RAM.
There were a couple of threads about system configuration for PCs used for photo-editing. Check them, there were some helpful information about hardware setup. The best car won't run fast with handbreak on - I recommend TuneUp to have a good look at Windows and the settings. PM me for hands-on support

Senior Member

Could be many reasons, need to see the patient before diagnosing the problem. But yours can be due to things like too much junks in the registry, startup, sometimes removing it would free a lot of rams. Have u tried updating nvidia drivers? DirectX etc?

Senior Member

Could be many reasons, need to see the patient before diagnosing the problem. But yours can be due to things like too much junks in the registry, startup, sometimes removing it would free a lot of rams. Have u tried updating nvidia drivers? DirectX etc?

Senior Member

Have you tried System Restore? Go into System restore to do a backup of your present system config/registries..etc. Then do a system restore by choosing as early a date you can find in System Restore. There was a time I lose my original Window XP disc too so a format and install was out fo the question. So what I did was use system restore to bring forth one of my earlierst setup. Sure some of your application you installed later might not work but ifyou still have the softwares you can reinstall them again. But Windows XP will be fine. Most importantly you data should be fine too but that is a risk too since you have not cultivated a habit of backup all your data from time to time.

As much as you feel it is too troublesome to back them up now as you have hundreds of gigabyte...face the fact...sooner or later ( I have a feeling it will be sooner as you play around with your PC and OS to tweak it to go faster and erasing files here and there...) your system will get so unstable...you are going to be very sorry when all that data goes up in smoke.

My advice about system restore might help you but I would seriously ask you to BACK UP EVEYTHING before you attempt anymore ideas any forummers have to advise you because if something goes wrong with the tweaking...you might not be able to reverse it!.

I have another 2 advices:
About using all those 3rd party "tuneup" s/w for your OS...some of them makes it worst then better...and sometime after certain updates you have done to the OS...it might not work well wth certain 3rd party TUNEUP s/w. The other thing is overclocking.

Your system is already old and I take it you have been using your CPU in overclock mode for a fairly long time now. Overclock "ages" and shorten your CPU's lifespan...the CPU may not die straight away but it can decrease performance. Another thing about CPU, parts of the internal guyus of the motherboard...etc. Have you consider all the dust and hair bunnies ...all this causes heat build that might trigger your system to run slower or unstable. Cleaning out your hardware can help too.

New Member

Spec wise, its sufficient to run all those programs, my 2-yr pc setup is quite similar to yours.
I don't think there are 150GB HDD, unless you partitioned one.
you're probably better off getting another OS and HDD to do a full reinstall. grab a 500GB and install at your own convenience, keeping your current HDD untouched til the new stable is setup.
Or you can get a new setup for <$700 with OS and GST inclu. Definite costs less than any L lens.

I have another 2 advices: About using all those 3rd party "tuneup" s/w for your OS...some of them makes it worst then better...and sometime after certain updates you have done to the OS...it might not work well wth certain 3rd party TUNEUP s/w. The other thing is overclocking.

Your system is already old and I take it you have been using your CPU in overclock mode for a fairly long time now. Overclock "ages" and shorten your CPU's lifespan...the CPU may not die straight away but it can decrease performance. Another thing about CPU, parts of the internal guyus of the motherboard...etc. Have you consider all the dust and hair bunnies ...all this causes heat build that might trigger your system to run slower or unstable. Cleaning out your hardware can help too.

Spec wise, its sufficient to run all those programs, my 2-yr pc setup is quite similar to yours.
I don't think there are 150GB HDD, unless you partitioned one.
you're probably better off getting another OS and HDD to do a full reinstall. grab a 500GB and install at your own convenience, keeping your current HDD untouched til the new stable is setup.
Or you can get a new setup for <$700 with OS and GST inclu. Definite costs less than any L lens.

Hm, well since it says 150gig free, they should be 160gig hdds I guess.
"Getting another OS" means getting vista; something I'm not keen about since I only have 2gig DDR1, plus the fact that Vista runs slower and has all those security checks that kinda.. um.. don't work with those software that I own. It's gonna cost quite a lot too, and I just can't spare more than S$200 on an upgrade of sorts..